« In Algeria, Indian films are broadcast regularly on national channels, they have a much greater reach than in France “, says Asmae Benmansour-Ammour, who says she discovered Indian cinema through her own cousins sharing their favorite films with her in the 2000s. ” Until recently, there was little data to objectivize the success of Indian films in these countries because their distribution went under the radar. Now things are more regulated and we see that they have been working very well for a long time », continues Étienne Dubaille.
In China, it has been like this since the phenomenon Dangala film retracing the true story of wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat and his daughters who became champions Geeta and Babita, which Indian cinema has definitely settled down on. “ 2016 remained a pivotal year, India had never really managed to seduce this market. Since then, at least two or three Indian films have benefited from major local distribution each year. », explains Clément Costa.
With globalization helping, the circulation of these films via specialized forums, social networks and other more or less legal recourses could therefore have helped prepare the ground for their arrival in the West. From this point of view, “ the Indian diaspora played a huge role, acting as cultural ambassadors of sorts, introducing these films to their friends and sharing them around them », underlines Yanyan Hong. Noting this rise in power, Western producers and distributors also began to promote cinemas from the Sub-Continent around fifteen years ago.
Films « masala »
Not to mention the exponential power of streaming platforms from 2015, from Netflix to Prime Video including their Asian counterparts. “ The fact that more and more films have benefited from real dubbing thanks to these platforms may seem trivial, but it was unthinkable just a few years ago. », notes Asmae Benmansour-Ammour. For his part, Étienne Dubaille maintains that “ the real turning point was confinement “, period ” difficult for the environment » which paradoxically ensured a “ almost free promotional work » among people eager for “ discover something else » as the same eternal American blockbusters.
